Pro tip: letting your hens free-range for 30 minutes before dark saved my eggs

I kept finding broken shells in the nesting boxes for weeks. Turns out my girls were pecking at each other's eggs out of boredom. I started letting them out for that last half hour before sunset to scratch around, and it stopped almost completely. Now I get 6 full eggs daily instead of 4 good ones and 2 smashed ones. Has anyone else had luck with a simple timing change like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

thea2466d ago

Got my own weird timing trick with my ducks actually. I started tossing frozen peas into their kiddie pool right before they go in for the night, keeps them busy and stops them from plucking each other's tail feathers. Took me forever to figure out they were just bored, not sick.

spencer1996d ago

Oh man, frozen peas. So you went from "are my ducks dying" to "nah they're just bored and need a snack." That's honestly genius though, I love that you figured out the root cause was basically duck cabin fever. Gotta keep those feathery little terrors entertained or they start looking at each other like snacks.